By The Editor: Siddharth Sehgal
Young children if you have observed will do exactly the same thing you tell them not to do. Parents often find it very difficult to disciple their kids, they might hush up out of fear for a while but sooner or later the rebellious nature will overcome. If we find it so hard to control kids sometime then how does Maharashtra government thinks it will control behavior of grown ups.
New meat ban is just one of long list of things prohibited in the state but a practical question is, is this really possible. People will eat, see, sing or do what they want to do no matter how you try to babysit them. It’s totally fine to respect the religious sentiments of Jains but why cause inconvenience for others in the process. Whether its Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis and even Jains savor vegetarian and non vegetarian dishes of the metropolitan, this is no secret. Restaurants, food stalls, shops, street side vendors who earn their bread and butter by selling omelets, fish fries etc. will be impacted by these wishful decisions. There are already people from other communities who are demanding ban on alcohol and what not. The bigger question here is how state government intends to please everyone.
Mumbai is already known for its Jain only, Parsi only, Marathi only, this only and those only societies. Government should discourage such sort of insular behavior but somebody wise at the top had an idea of banning things right and left to express their gratitude for vote from these communities. Seriously, do they have anything better to do. Maybe fixing roads, repairing sewers that flow in rainy season or increasing security for people especially women might have been a better way but our political history have shown that we have a bad habit of giving administration in the hands of people with no administrative experience and this pattern is apparent in whichever state you go in the country. Shiv Sena, Congress, NCP, MNS are no different and some of these parties who have practiced the tradition of ban in their own era are now up in arms against BJP. When will governments will respect the sentiments of common man who just want to see his electricity, water and basic needs of subsistence taken care of.
Deaths and suicides of farmers in Maharashtra is almost always in the news. Even Manmohan Singh couldn’t do anything about the issue despite having all the resources of nation at his disposal but few days ago actor Nana Patekar decided to step in and help the aggrieved families. His efforts might not be enough but doesn’t it ring a bell to those sitting in vidhan sabha in Mumbai to do something about the cause. Both in power and opposition are well within their capacity to address this serious issue but people’s eating habits are their priority right now.
Governments should leave people on their own and focus on managing not manipulating things but who’s listening.